Penalty Enforcement on Change of Poss.

[TussAgee11]

I'm not a football ref by any means, although I do scrounge around flag football in the intramural setting here at college. I come to you from the world of baseball, my brother officials.

Had an interesting situation last night, and was curious what the ruling would be in FED, NCAA, and pro.

Penalty on the offense, followed by an interception, followed by a penalty on the returning defense.

Common sense says the offensive penalty is declined, the defensive one is enforced as normal, and defense retains possession.

The game was played under NIRSA rules (which I'm sure very few of you are familiar with) but my boss is saying the penalties should off-set. Maybe under NIRSA ruleset, but we won't go there. What is the ruling in NFL, NCAA, and FED?

Thanks...

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

I'm not a football ref by any means, although I do scrounge around flag football in the intramural setting here at college. I come to you from the world of baseball, my brother officials.

Had an interesting situation last night, and was curious what the ruling would be in FED, NCAA, and pro.

Penalty on the offense, followed by an interception, followed by a penalty on the returning defense.

Common sense says the offensive penalty is declined, the defensive one is enforced as normal, and defense retains possession.

The game was played under NIRSA rules (which I'm sure very few of you are familiar with) but my boss is saying the penalties should off-set. Maybe under NIRSA ruleset, but we won't go there. What is the ruling in NFL, NCAA, and FED?

Thanks...

CANADIAN RULING:

If B accepts the A foul, A keeps the ball, and the two fouls are balanced from the LS. If B declines the A foul, B gets the ball, but with their foul applied.

The choice is really B's, and I would be saying, "A's ball there (pointing to the new spot after both penalties applied), or your ball there (pointing to the spot of just B's foul is applied)."

Edit: if the first foul is an A UR, B can have that foul applied at the same spot where B's foul is applied, and therefore, keep the ball and also negate the yards B is penalized, and possibly even gain 5 yards out of it all.

[MJT]

Team B got the ball with clean hands. They have 2 choices, accept A's foul and you would replay, but if they want to keep the ball, they decline A's foul and B's will be enforced. This is the same for NF, NCAA, and the NFL.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by MJT

Team B got the ball with clean hands. They have 2 choices, accept A's foul and you would replay, but if they want to keep the ball, they decline A's foul and B's will be enforced. This is the same for NF, NCAA, and the NFL.

The way NCAA has it, the options are presented and resolved in the order of the occurrence of the fouls, and the acceptance of a penalty nullifies the remainder of the options. A disqualification would still count, though.

And although that may be the way NFL has it now, it wasn't too many years ago that the situation would result in the penalties offsetting and the down repeated, which was a major hosing in many CoP situations.

What does "NIRSA" stand for? They don't go by Fawzian rules, do they?

Robert

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

What does "NIRSA" stand for? They don't go by Fawzian rules, do they?

National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association

[TussAgee11]

Thanks guys.

Appreciate it, and I'll keep lurking. Maybe one of these days I'll take up wearing the collared stripes.

[NewNCref]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

The game was played under NIRSA rules (which I'm sure very few of you are familiar with) but my boss is saying the penalties should off-set. Maybe under NIRSA ruleset, but we won't go there. What is the ruling in NFL, NCAA, and FED?

Thanks...

I actually ref flag football under NIRSA rules. Under NIRSA, since the ball was caught with "clean hands," possession can be retained by the intercepting team, so long as they decline the penalty on the other team. It's important to note that this doesn't apply during a try for extra points or during an overtime period.